Splitfest Photos...

[NoKnees]

Couple more photos from the Splitfest in Tahoe... These from a real camera... :)

1. Basin Peak, primary goal day 1... Can't quite make out our tracks, but they follow just viewers left of cliffs down into trees...
2. Mark and Alex in background, I'm the happy guy in the foreground.. My prior split next to me..
3. Our tracks behind Sugarbowl
4. More of our tracks behind Sugarbowl
5. Best lines behind Sugarbowl.. All good!

[Tantrum]

OK, after this one.

[elex]

Great pics, man that looks fun. I need to start doing that. I bet there's some great splitboarding at Bear Mtn or not. When you shredding next? Suppose to snow this weekend, but I don't think it will be much.
e

[NoKnees]

Not sure when I'll get up there next. Getting to the busy part of my year... It does look like this weekend will start at least one more round of some wet weather, but yah, not sure if it'll be enough to do much up in Tahoe... I'm thinking it'll be decent, as I will be out of town and won't be able to ride. If I were here, it'd probably be nothing...

I'm hoping that I'll be able to get up there for a day or two over easter weekend. Folks are out of town, so it should be a prime time to get away at least one last time to the snow... Hopefully the long term forecast that is calling for moisture off and on all next week will hold true... Still early, so who knows...

And actually I did see some decent backcountry pics from down south. Not quite Bear Mtn area, but the San Gregorio area I think... Don't know the hills down there too well but it looked cool 'nuf.

Looks like I'll probably be splitting my Donek 168 sometime in the next couple weeks. It should make a better spring riding board than my Prior ST. Just waiting for the split kit to show up in the mail..

Which brings me to another question... How hard would it be to add steel edges to a board that I split? What supplies, tools, etc might I need? Your thoughts? It won't have to be quite as robust as the normal edges, as they'll only be under stress while skinning in ski mode... And there I don't have near the leverage to tax them... Just wondering if it'd be worth the effort... I have to spend a little time sealing up that edge of the board anyway, so I thought if I spent an extra hour or two and got a nice edge added it'd be worthwhile.. dunno...

[elex]

Not sure when I'll get up there next. Getting to the busy part of my year... It does look like this weekend will start at least one more round of some wet weather, but yah, not sure if it'll be enough to do much up in Tahoe... I'm thinking it'll be decent, as I will be out of town and won't be able to ride. If I were here, it'd probably be nothing...

I'm hoping that I'll be able to get up there for a day or two over easter weekend. Folks are out of town, so it should be a prime time to get away at least one last time to the snow... Hopefully the long term forecast that is calling for moisture off and on all next week will hold true... Still early, so who knows...

And actually I did see some decent backcountry pics from down south. Not quite Bear Mtn area, but the San Gregorio area I think... Don't know the hills down there too well but it looked cool 'nuf.

Looks like I'll probably be splitting my Donek 168 sometime in the next couple weeks. It should make a better spring riding board than my Prior ST. Just waiting for the split kit to show up in the mail..

Which brings me to another question... How hard would it be to add steel edges to a board that I split? What supplies, tools, etc might I need? Your thoughts? It won't have to be quite as robust as the normal edges, as they'll only be under stress while skinning in ski mode... And there I don't have near the leverage to tax them... Just wondering if it'd be worth the effort... I have to spend a little time sealing up that edge of the board anyway, so I thought if I spent an extra hour or two and got a nice edge added it'd be worthwhile.. dunno...

It would be easier & quicker to build another board. I would say you would need 2 days to add an edge. The other problem is cutting the board in a straight line without removing too much material. Your Donek will be at least 4mm narrower. Most blades are roughly 3mm in thickness. A bandsaw is better, but this is difficult to cut a straight line,but at least it will be a perfect match. If you do cut it in half, I would use an epoxy mixed with alum powder or any other thickner. This will do a much better job of protecting the core & will add some torsional stiffness, which you will need badly.
e

[Ripzalot]

nice terrain! looks like a great day on the hill. are all those lines from splitboarders?

[NoKnees]

E, thanks for the feedback... Alum powder, eh? Any suggestions on some good epoxy and a source for this "magic" powder? Would a good slow dry 2 part, or something specific I should look for?

As for the cut itself, I'm not too worried about it. I have access to a good large table saw and some nice "special" blades that are a bit thinner. I think I can manage to keep the loss at or just under 3mm, but that's it. Have access to a hefty band saw as well, but think I'd need to look into a different blade for it as the current one is a pretty aggressive wood specific blade. That and I'd need to rig up a nifty jig to make sure the board tracks straight from end to end as the platform is pretty small.

Ripz, most were from splitters. There were a couple tele skier's that made a couple zig zags through there as well (their up track is visible in one of the photos), but we did most of the damange pictured.

A lot of short but fun vert to play on around there.

[elex]

E, thanks for the feedback... Alum powder, eh? Any suggestions on some good epoxy and a source for this "magic" powder? Would a good slow dry 2 part, or something specific I should look for?

As for the cut itself, I'm not too worried about it. I have access to a good large table saw and some nice "special" blades that are a bit thinner. I think I can manage to keep the loss at or just under 3mm, but that's it. Have access to a hefty band saw as well, but think I'd need to look into a different blade for it as the current one is a pretty aggressive wood specific blade. That and I'd need to rig up a nifty jig to make sure the board tracks straight from end to end as the platform is pretty small.

Ripz, most were from splitters. There were a couple tele skier's that made a couple zig zags through there as well (their up track is visible in one of the photos), but we did most of the damange pictured.

A lot of short but fun vert to play on around there.

The Alum powder is a little difficult to find, but take a look at tapplastics.com They have quite a few goodies there, I know they have a SF store. It's in that one area that gets traffic & has bums.

Another note, is remember that your Donek is tapered.
e

[NoKnees]

Yah, there are a few Tap's down here on the penninsula... No problem finding them.. I'll swing by and ask them about the magic dust...

As for the tapper, yep, no worries there either. The Donek will be mounted to another board for the cutting part, and aligned accordingly. That way I'll run the base board against the guide, and not rely on my Donek. It'll be sad when I take it to the saw, but it'll be for the greater good... Giving one life to create another.. :)